Kevin Dockery

photo by Peter Castellano

kevin.l.dockery@gmail.com

19132 Connie Drive

Grass Valley, CA 95949

A physical thinker, mover, musician, writer and nature historian who uses performance to explore ideas of self, place, and fit in the cultural labyrinth that overlays our experience of life. He was Born in California and since a young age has been immersed in explorations of body, ecology and performance. His love of moving his internal world around in space developed in response to, and in contrast with, an ongoing love of stillness and sensing the natural world. His movement practice developed out of contemporary dance, martial arts and contact improvisation. He began performing in the bay area with Scott Wells in 2005 and has been since appeared in the work of Sara Shelton Mann, Jess Curtis, and Karl Frost. More recently he has been in collaborative processes with Leslie Castellano, Miriam Wolodarski, Zap McConnell and Rosemary Hannon. He is most interested in making and performing in work that is related to environmentally and socially relevant source material. He has also been teaching contact improvisation since 2005 and Feldenkrais since 2011.

photo by Ellen Maynard

"Becoming Monster"

I co created this piece with Leslie Castellano. All costumes and ideas were created in collaboration. I also collaborated on some of the music for this piece. Hello Friends in the dark, in the corner of a closet, under the stairs. I see you there, creeping. In this evening length work Leslie and I explore who monsters define our cultural edges and how we need a new place inside ourselves to make space for the inappropriate/d other. Created in residence at Synapsis in Eureka, CA in August 2016.

Video Excerpt: https://vimeo.com/189671334

Photo by Manu Butterworth

"How Much is Enough"

I co created this piece with Utam Moses. We collaborated on creating all the set, sounds and costumes. At the edge of consumerism and in the pathway of insecurities Kevin Dockery and Utam Moses ask what is enough and share their explorations in this evening length piece. Created in residence at Spring Fall Studio in Berkeley in 2016.

Photos by Robbie Sweeny

“Soft Reigns”

I was a co creator of the this performance. With bodies more or less civilized, Leslie Castellano and Kevin Dockery investigate the potential for momentary feralization of human identity through dance, words, and shifting states; using ritual, high court, childhood escapades, and the confrontation of environmental destruction, while the self struggles as global consumer. Project was developed in explorations of physical and emotional states with objects we found to be strongly related to the content. Created in residency at the Finnish Hall in Berkeley California in 2015.

“The Hoof-Paw Rebellion”

I co created this performance were we improvised movement and the creation of on the spot history “ The Hoof Paw Rebellion” explore how history is created, edited and internalized by people individually and how these interpretations effect our sense of who we are as people. It uses a fictional rebellion as the point of departure as rebellions, wars and imperialism are the places where history gets written by the ones who end up in charge so there is widely varying interpretations based on where you get your information. Created in the Summer of 2014 by Kevin Dockery, Leslie Castellano and Cameron Kelly.

“Do Capitals a Title Make”

I was a dancer and collaborator in this experiment in the economics of performance. A quiet raging at a system where one family can make more than the poorest 43% of the country. How do we find meaning in making performance work instead of giving all of our time to political action? We have a fashion show, an election, a popularity contest, or decide by random chance. Created by Miriam Wolodarski in 2015 in collaboration with the performers.

“Of Limb and Language”

I was a dancer and collaborator in this performance that lives at the intersection of action and verbalization. It wonders around distracted by daily affairs. It is in love with Vanna White and McDonalds. Who are we? Why don't our we match ourselves? Using improvisation, contact improvisation amazing props and fabulous costumes we create a tragicomedy game show. Created by Miriam Wolodarski in collaboration with the performers at Counterpulse San Francisco in 2013. Photo by Miriam Wolodarski

“Accidental Tourist”

I was a performer and collaborator in this film that presents various somatic explorations of place in the nature. Meditation, blindfolding, creating exhaustion, and other state inducing techniques were used to create different relationships to the natural world. The film is a non-narrative collage of images filmed from set camera angles and no visual effects or sound were added. Directed by Karl Frost. Photos by John Zibell

“The UnEarthing”

I was a dancer and created choreography for Zap McConnell for the Unearthing were we explored the complex relationship between environmental destruction, international boundaries and art making process. It took place in Charlottesville Virginia and in Puebla Mexico. Along side the performance we held lectures on mountain top removal and issues of border politics. Created by Zap McConnell in collaboration with the 12 performers and 30 installation artists. Photos 1 by Diego Cardenas. Photo 2 by Will May. Photo 3 by Ana Paula M Lanz.